I don't believe in censorship…BUT…

How many times have you heard our
politicians begin a censorial statement with the phrase "I don't believe in
censorship BUT..."?

Well I have decided to start keeping
track of all those who don't believe in it but nevertheless have imposed it with relish.

Feel free to
nominate additional entries to the list. I am sure there
are plenty more deserving cases out there.
Please email
webmaster@melonfarmers.com

Natural
Born Censors

Peter Ainsworth

Tory Shadow Culture Secretary said that the BBFC appeared to
be 'losing its grip' when it passed Baise-Moi with cuts and then issued a
press release regretting the necessity to cut it. Ainsworth responded:
This is just
crazy. To pass a film like this on the one hand and then apologise on the other makes no
sense at all.

The illiberal Liberal who has spent so long campaigning
against all things liberal. He is still at it in the Lords as we speak
(albeit as a crossbencher). Most infamous for
the Alton Amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill that would have removed all 15 and 18
videos from the home market. He suggested the award of the certificate "not suitable
for home viewing". Even Michael Howard had to step in moderate this amendment on
realisation that such films as Schindler's List would be banned. Unfortunately the
compromise entailed even stricter censorship of UK videos with a new shopping list of new
criteria of harm for the BBFC to consider. Another key sponsor of this amendment was
Tony Blair.

Continued his work with a failed attempt to amend the
Crime & Disorder Bill to enable organisations to appeal against BBFC certificates. The
rub was that these organisations would be hand picked by the Home Office so as to achieve
the result that Alton desires.

As films minister at the Department of Culture, Media and
Sport, she has called for the banning of Eros TV. She said: Hard-core
pornography is not acceptable in this country.

Although she feels fit to pass moral
judgement over those that enjoy porn she does not exactly occupy the high moral ground
herself. She has apparently been involved with fellow MP Jim Dowd and has been
instrumental in the break up of his previous 23 year long relationship.

As shadow women's minister Mrs Anderson outraged MPs at the Labour Party conference two
years ago when she said: Under Labour women will become more promiscuous.

Shiona Baird

Green Party MSP for North East Scotland, exaggerated
somewhat about an Edinburgh showing of Deep Throat: This
documentary of a film which is widely held to have no cultural or artistic
merit is no more than an attempt to legitimise pornography and condone the
abuse and degradation of women.

Steve Bassam

Lord Bassam of Brighton

A shameful JackBoots Straw stooge
at the Home Office who is happy to to echo JackBoots' sentiments when it comes to the
legalisation of adult consensual hardcore. Brings shame to the good liberal name of
Brighton.

Key supporter of David Alton's
repressive amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill. He displays incredibly bad taste by
actually listening to the advice of the disgraced arch-moralist of the Daily Mail,
Paul Johnson

In a speech titled:
Our Nation's Future - Social Exclusion,
Tony Blair said: It is not for the State to tell people that they
cannot choose a different lifestyle, for example in issues to do with
sexuality. Just a few days earlier his Government had announced a
law to imprison viewers of extreme, but staged, pornography for up to 3
years!

David Blunkett

Labour Home Secretary on the subject of allowing evidence
obtained under torture to be used in British courts: Let me make it
clear, we unreservedly condemn the use of torture and have worked hard with
our international partners to eradicate this practice. BUT... it
would be irresponsible not to take appropriate account of any information
that could help protect national security and public safety.

Issued the proscription order for the satellite porn channels
Rendez-Vous and Satisfaction Club Television. Clearly done for votes as she waited nearly
a year until the Tory party conference before acting.

One of the most vocal of the current unholy cross party
alliance of parliamentary censors. He is a key spokesman of "The Conservative Family
Campaign" who seem to believe that our freedom of choice should be limited to
Teletubbies or the Wombles.

His reactionary stance of calling for
mandatory prison for dangerous drivers ended abruptly after an unfortunate
fatal accident in Italy.

The sponsor of the Private Members Bill that became the Video Recordings
Act of 1984 sanctioning state censorship of every video released in the UK.

Gordon Brown

Labour prime minister from 2007.

Gordon Brown spoke at the press
conference to launch the Byron Review into protecting children from games
and videos:

"I am not interested in censorship at
all...BUT...I think we do need rules governing some aspects
of the internet and videos where children are involved and the whole
purpose of this review would be to draw on the advice of all sources so
that we can look at this in a sensible way".

Extending the scope of his attack on knife culture, Brown said that the
makers and sellers of violent video and computer games must shoulder some
responsibility:

"No one wants censorship or an interfering
state...BUT... the industry has a responsibility to society
and needs to exercise that."

Karen Buck

Labour MP for Regents Park and Kensington North. Sponsor of the motion
to force phone companies to bar numbers found on cards in phone boxes.We
are not trying to make London like Disneyland and pretend that prostitution
does not exist, but this is now a serious issue.

(How about just allowing the girls to advertise in legal
publications?)

John Bull

Leading light in the Westminster Council decision to ban
Crash from its local cinemas

Andy Burnham

Labour Culture Secretary

27th December 2008: On Free Speech on
the Internet

Burnham said: If you look back at the people
who created the internet they talked very deliberately about creating a
space that Governments couldn’t reach. I think we are having to revisit
that stuff seriously now. It’s true across the board in terms of content,
harmful content, and copyright. Libel is [also] an emerging issue.

There is content that should just not be available to be viewed. That is
my view. Absolutely categorical. This is not a campaign against free
speech, far from it; [...BUT...] it is simply there is a wider
public interest at stake when it involves harm to other people. We have
got to get better at defining where the public interest lies and being
clear about it.

Burnham admits that his plans may be interpreted by some as
heavy-handed...BUT... says the new standards drive is
utterly crucial.

George W Bush

President of the United States of Warmongers.

Speaking about American TV regulation:

...make sure you protect the capacity of people to speak freely in our
society, BUT... be willing to, if things go too far, call them to
account.

We are a great society because we are a free society,
BUT... on
the other hand, it is very important for there to be limits.

David Cameron

Prospective Tory leader who blames the world's ills on
computer games saying they are fuelling the rise in anti-social behaviour.

He said he would build a ‘comprehensive anti-crime policy’ that would
‘not only strengthen the criminal justice system, but re-civilise our
society’.

Vernon Coaker

Home Office minister pushing through one of the most
repressive censorship laws proposed for the UK for a long time. The
Dangerous Pictures Act will see people locked up for 3 years merely for
viewing pictures of staged violent porn.

Was particularly noted for a shameful distortion of the truth when
claiming on a BBC programme that the majority of respondents supported the
Government extreme porn proposals.

Graham Chapman

Leader of Nottingham Council. Seems to let his own
views override the justification required by law and got duely criticised by the relvant
ombudsman.

Lorna Cohen

Leeds licensing committee chairman.

She denied that she
and members of her committee were interfering in people's freedom of choice ...But
Bride of Chucky would not necessarily be seen in Leeds.

What I don't like about this Chucky business is that they are using a toy and
turning it into a little monster. I find the whole thing very depressing,The
real question is why these type of films have to be made. Have they got no morals, or is
making money the only thing they are interested in?Distributors are
"exploitative, They deliberately create a market. I don't believe that people are so
sick in their minds that there is a market. I think somebody has to make a stand and say
'What do you think you are doing?' Cohen said she could not understand why people
made movies like Bride of Chucky or how they attracted audiences. Instead
she cited Schindler's List as an example of a "good" film and
said movies should contain a good story, social message and should contribute to society
"in a meaningful way". Although she had not yet seen the film, she dismissed
Bride
of Chucky, which stars Oscar nominee Jennifer Tilly, as "crap".
What
does this kind of film prove? We have created a sick society and we are just pandering to
that sick society, she added.

Hammersmith and Fulham MP who worked unsuccessfully along
side John Humphrys to rid their area of Secrets table dancing
club.

In trying to get support for his campaign he wrote:
I am concerned about the
effective lack of control of establishments such as these which use sexual behaviour to
enhance their trade.

I have since heard that in the early 80s, Iain Coleman used to work in
the Ann Summers chain of shops. In fact his father, Ron Coleman, was a part owner at this
time. Iain Coleman then used to admirably participate in local radio programmes, eg on
LBC, in strenuous defence of the sex industry!

Glasgow Deputy Council leader on the subject of
lap dancing in Glasgow:

This council has taken a stand against the
proliferation of such venues in the belief that they exploit and demean
women and hamper our bid to promote gender equality.

And later on the same topic:

When will they get the message? This
kind of entertainment is not welcome in Glasgow. It is against the council's
policies on equality, violence against women and prostitution. The message
is quite clear - the people of Glasgow do not want this. We're not going to
go down the route of Edinburgh and the likes and allow the city to be taken
over by these sleazy venues.

A councillor expected to face an inquiry over claims he helped award a £1m
public contract to a firm in which he holds a directorship will face
further accusations that he failed to declare his connection.

Jim Coleman, deputy leader of Glasgow City Council, will also be the
subject of complaints to Scotland's public sector watchdog that on at
least one other previous occasion he failed to declare his directorship of
the Wise Group during a council meeting he was chairing and where the
company benefited.

The incident, in March 2008, saw the Wise Group named as a partner of the
council in a recycling project. Another councillor, Martha Wardrop of the
Greens, declared an interest and left the meeting as she had connections
with another organisation involved in the discussions, official records
show.

John Cryer

Hornchurch MP joined the
nutter opposition to an application to open a sex shop in Hornchurch This is the last thing the area needs. After losing a
vital public service in the former post office, we now have someone wanting
to replace selling stamps and processing pensions to peddling porn magazines
and sleaze.

Claire Curtis-Thomas

Claire Curtis-Thomas Crosby Labour MP

Proposed a Bill to establish an Office for the Regulation of the Sale and
Display of Sexually Explicit Material of which she somehow includes lads
mags

Pastor at the head of the fundamentalist Cornerstone
Ministries group of churches based in Esher,joined other fundamentalist religious groups
in the campaign against the video release of Crash. See also Yusuf
Islam

Fergus Ewing

Scottish Nationalist MSP seems to relish in the persecution of kerb
crawlers: It seems to me the punter is going to escape scot free again
and again and that's not what we want. He said he planned to table an
amendment to shift the emphasis of the Bill to make it an offence to buy or
attempt to buy sex.

James Ferman

As director of the BBFC for 23 years, James Ferman did well
to stay out of the Hall of Shame for a long time. Unfortunately in the last few weeks of
office his place of shame was clinched by a statement in a
Radio 4 documentary:

When I came to the Board my goal was more freedom for adults
and more protection for children. I've come round to thinking we need more freedom for
children and less for adults

Mark Fisher

Labour Minster for the Arts who supports censorship to
protect
human dignity

Phil Gallie

Holier than thou Scottish Tory MP who believes that all group
sex should be made illegal.

I do not propose or foresee some kind of snooper force
lurking behind bedroom doors but I do feel strongly that Parliament should not condone
such activities through legislation.

Laurence Godfrey

Setting dangerous legal precedents by continually suing the
messengers ie ISP's for the alleged libels by internet users. I don't wish to
challenge anyone's right to freedom of speech but I have a right to
damages if I'm damaged by their exercise of their right to free speech.

Wythenshawe, Labour MP & Under Secretary of State, spoke about the 15 rated video game,
Silent
Hill: and "deplored" the company's tactics in trying to boost sales in
a morbid way. He will ask Home Secretary Jackboots Straw what action he could take to
prevent or restrict sales.

Later on he put his name to a repressive
measure to criminalise the possession of violent pornography (even when
consensual and staged)

The measure was introduced with the statement that it was to limit
extreme pornography. By extreme” we mean material which is violent and
abusive, featuring activities which are illegal in themselves and where, in
some cases, participants may have been the victims of criminal offences. BUT... reading further into the paper they will in fact criminalise
those owning videos with consensual staged violence as in many horror films
with a sexy theme. Just because real violence may be a little hard for the
persecutors to prove.

Christine Grahame

Scottish Parliament shadow Social
Justice Minister.

Commenting on a report that
one in five young men and one in ten women thought that violence against
women was acceptable pointed the finger of blame at the media and
entertainment industries. She said: The violence of pornography is there
for all to access whether on the bus, the video, the magazine, the web.

It is here young men and women are subjected to the influences that make
them devalue each other’s sexuality, contaminating respect for each other as
people and cannot be detached from violence in all its forms against women.

Stephen Green

Leader of Christian Voice, aggressive nutters who have
allowed threats and intimidation to be speak louder than tolerance and
compassion. Hopefully this is down to Stephen Green, rather than
Christianity as a whole

Christian Voice published the addresses of BBC
officers who they believed were connected with the showing of Jerry
Springer: The Opera leading to threats of violence. Since then they have
pressured charities into not accepting much need money from donors they
don't agree with and have decided to target their aggression on pregnant
women attending abortion centres. Green said: The taking of innocent
blood brings judgment on our land and cries to Heaven for vengeance. Green is also homophobic saying:
Homosexuality is a pathology, an
emotional or psychological disorder. It is a very sad thing but it is
something you can get over.

David Hallam

Labour MEP who reckons: Sex and violence on television
should be regulated by the Government to protect children, the 9PM watershed should be
scrapped and all programmes should be checked for content.Many
children watched TV unsupervised and ministers had a duty to protect 'TV
orphans'.

Hereditary peer who introduced A house of Lords amendment to
the Obscene Publications Act that defines all depictions of sex as obscene and enables the
imprisonment of anyone vaguely connected to the distribution chain. Clearly his hatred of
porn over shadows his sense of justice, tolerance and civilisation.

David Hanson

Injustice minister pushing through one of the most
repressive censorship laws proposed for the UK for a long time. The
Dangerous Pictures Act will see people locked up for 3 years merely for
viewing pictures of staged violent porn.

Harriet Harman

Labour solicitor general.

Wants to blame customers for
the problem of sex trafficking. The problem is surely caused by the
Government themselves as they refuse to allow a legal framework in which the
business can be run properly. Harman is also guilty of the usual political
bollox of casually linking adult prostitution with serious crimes related to
child prostitution.

Is leading an evangelical group in their campaign to get the
recent cinema re-release of The Exorcist stopped.

The group set up a
team of counselors to help people who feel they have been adversely affected by what they
have seen on the screen. Hathaway said that The Exorcist was evil:
of
course society's senses are dulled by horror and violence nowadays but
The
Exorcist is something different; the devil and the demonic are very real and have
a very real affect on people, particularly young people who often cannot cope with their
feelings afterwards. We will be there for those people.

Hathaway even wrote to his local cinema in Salisbury asking it not to show the film but
said that his request was ignored. It's going to be shown - there's nothing we can do
about that but I will be placing adverts in the local paper warning people not to see the
film and offering help to viewers who are disturbed by what they feel.

Hugh Henry

Labour MSP said about the idea of a topless barber
shop: I'm glad to see the back of Bongheads but I'm outraged to see a
sleazy attempt to exploit the drugs culture replaced by an attempt to
exploit women.

Patricia Hewitt

Labour Trade and Industry Secretary only to happy to join
the blame bandwagon against Manhunt, a computer game caught up in the
aftermath of the trial of a teenage murderer: As a mother myself I share her (Mrs Pakeerah’s) anxiety
about the violent computer games that too many teenagers are exposed to. We all
need to do more — manufacturers, retailers, parents and schools — to protect
our young people from immersing themselves in images of extreme violence.”

Geoff Hoon

October 2208: Enemy of Liberty

Plans to create a database monstrosity of mobile phone and internet
records were defended last night by the Transport Secretary, Geoff Hoon,
who said critics of the scheme were giving a licence to terrorists to
kill.

Speaking on the BBC's Question Time programme, Hoon admitted he was
prepared to go quite a long way in undermining civil liberties to
stop people being killed, and added the biggest civil liberty of all is
not to be killed by a terrorist.

Angela Hooper

Chairman of Westminster's Planning and Licensing
Committee

These explicit videos are extremely dangerous, with evidence that
hard-core material of this kind can lead to sex crimes. We are determined to close down
the unlicensed premises and so stem the flow of income to those who sell them.

I agree that it can lead to crimes... Abuse of Human Rights, Corruption and
Intolerance. Trouble is, it is the likes of Westminster Council that become the criminals,
not the viewers.

Gerald Howarth

MP & chairman of the Lords and Commons Family and Child
Protection Group, said: People will be asklng themselves why we bother with censorship
if they let through this type of stuff (Romance).
It just sounds like pure pornography. I'm very worried about the insidious and coarsening
effect this sort of material is having on society - and ultimately, reguardless of it's
'18' certificate, children will see the film 'Small wonder that 12-year-old girls become
pregnant when films like this are openly available.

Particularly
noteworthy for statements suggesting that sex is only acceptable if you pay for it.

Kim Howells

Labour Culture Minister

Laid into rap music,
violent videos and Violent computer games: I look at some of the video
games my kids play, I look at some of the movies they and their friends
think are wonderful and I see no humanity there at all, nothing that tries
to highlight, and underpin, the finer virtues that are in people and in
society.

Banana skin: Ms Hughes went out in front of the nation's TV cameras and radio
microphones all guns blazing to denounce the Brass Eye special on the media and society's
treatment of paedophilia. She called the programme "unspeakably sick". Her
comments fuelled fears that the government was acting as "state censor".
Unfortunately, Ms Hughes had to admit, when asked, that she hadn't actually watched the
show.

Result 1: Ms Hughes's comments fuelled fears that the government wanted to act as
"state censor" and was meddling in regulatory affairs. Tessa Jowell was forced
to backtrack in an attempt to allay aforementioned fears.

Result 2: Ms Hughes rocketed from home office obscurity to the pages of every national
newspaper overnight.

The Sun's leader said: The reaction to the programme could not have been scripted
better by the show's creators. Home office junior minister Beverley Hughes deserves a
severe reprimand for going on BBC Radio 4's influential Today programme to attack a show
she hadn't even seen.

Outcome: A spectacular own goal which perfectly encapsulated the point Brass Eye's
Chris Morris was trying to make.

Simon Hughes

As soon as he was promoted to the LibDems role of Home
Affairs spokesman he took up the soundbite bollox of Howard, Straw, Widdecombe etc

On
the subject of porn liberalisation for 16 year olds he said there was a clear link between
pornography and violence that had to be addressed. In a typical holier than thou attitude
he continued: It is clearly the case that people's behaviour doesn't settle
until they are in their 20s and therefore we would not want to leap speedily.

BBC news reader who feels that the Secrets strip club brings
down the tone of his west London neighbourhood. He has been siding with the equally
shameful Hammersmith and Fulham Council to try
and get the club shut down. He is joined in his mean minded crusade by local MP
Iain Coleman
He remarked when Secrets opened:

What sort of
people will it attract? The dirty mac brigade? Yuppies? I don't want my area defiled by
that bunch of prats.

(I am afraid that Hammersmith already suffers
from some obnoxious residents, the customers for Secrets can only enhance the area).

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Government Minister in the Lords pushing through one of
the most repressive censorship laws proposed for the UK for a long time.
The Dangerous Pictures Act will see people locked up for 3 years merely
for viewing pictures of staged violent porn.

A coalition of Christian and Muslim fundamentalists who
campaign to get video stores not to stock Crash. The group, which includes Yusuf Islam,
the former singer Cat Stevens, believes it can call on the support of up to 105,000
members across both faiths who will boycott any store that puts Crash on its shelves.
The
film should have been banned from the start, the coalition believes, because of its
perverse depiction of human sexuality woven into the violent imagery of road carnage.
See
also Chris Demetriou

Scottish Executive Minister for Injustice put her name to a
repressive measure to criminalise the possession of violent pornography
(even when consensual and staged)

The measure was introduced with the
statement that it was to limit extreme pornography. By extreme” we mean
material which is violent and abusive, featuring activities which are
illegal in themselves and where, in some cases, participants may have been
the victims of criminal offences. BUT... reading further into the
paper they will in fact criminalise those owning videos with consensual
staged violence as in many horror films with a sexy theme. Just because real
violence may be a little hard for the persecutors to prove.

Daily Mail film critic always on hand to campaign for the
banning of just about anything.

After the Arkansas massacre he re-iterated a stock
article blaming all society ills on sex and violence in the media. he concluded; I myself
would like the presentation of extreme violence for its own sake on TV to be made a
criminal offence. I would also support a revision of obscenity laws to discourage
editors from printing explicit details of sexuality in newspapers and magazines which
children are likely to read. It may be that Daily Mail readers have other ideas.
(An
admission of being extreme even in the eyes of Daily Mail readers?)

He has recently been found to have been cheating on his wife for 12 twelve years. As
one of the most outspoken censorial writers for the Daily Mail I had to laugh,
particularly as he had described his own sin of sexual promiscuity (prior to being caught
of course) as crying to heaven for vengeance. Being of a Christian bent he liked
to be punished for his sins, his lover stated that Paul loved to be spanked and it was
a big feature of our relationship. I had to tell him he was a very naughty boy.

Now the really alarming thing is that
Tony Blair has
been using Johnson as an adviser on family values and Christian ethics. We have no chance
of civilised regulation if our leaders have been seriously listening to the tripe that the
Daily Mail pedals.

It was also interesting to note that that story was unearthed some months
ago by Murdoch's New of the World but they decided to sit on it perhaps
because they too wanted a good relationship with Blair and didn't want to
embarrass him. In fact it was thanks to the Daily Express that the story
finally got revealed.

He said on the
subject of criminalising the possession of violent pornography
(including consensual and staged material):
We are not trying to criminalise more people,
BUT... we are
trying to reduce the supply and demand.

I am sure that all those innocent people that will be banged up will
agree that it is better to be merely decreasing supply and demand rather
than being locked up as a criminal

Stefan Kasprzyk

Islington Councillor commenting on a lap dancing proposal in 2007

Not so Liberal Dem councillor Stefan Kasprzyk accepted that pole
dancing was perfectly legal, ...BUT... added: I just fear
this sort of establishment might give out the wrong signals. For example,
what sort of individuals will this sort of club encourage?

He accepted that the Tavern had the reputation for being one of the
best-run venues in the borough. It has a nightclub where there is very
little trouble, he said: And I have every sympathy with the Tavern
needing to bring in customers and compete in the world of 24-hour
licensing...BUT...perhaps, they need to think again about this
proposal.

Gerald Kaufman

Labour ex minister who frequently write pro-censorship
articles. A recent column for the Mail On Sunday advocates fines for 'filth' on the BBC.

David Lepper

Brighton MP for Labour. One of the main campaigners for the
one of the most repressive censorship laws proposed for the UK for a long
time. The Dangerous Pictures Act will see people locked up for 3 years
merely for viewing pictures of staged violent porn.

Liz Longhurst

Campaigner for the one of the most repressive censorship
laws proposed for the UK for a long time. The Dangerous Pictures Act will
see people locked up for 3 years merely for viewing pictures of staged
violent porn.

She feels that a law imprisoning otherwise innocent people
just for viewing staged sexual violence is a fitting legacy for the death of
her daughter

Mid Worcestershire MP whinging about Jerry
Springer, The Opera: I do not believe in censorship, and I will
defend robustly the right of a theatre to put on a play that some find
offensive. BUT to show it on television where there is a danger
children could see it is irresponsible.

Fiona Mactaggart

Labour Home Office minister said that it
was wrong to regard those involved in prostitution as sex workers. She said
tough measures were needed to tackle the markets for prostitution. I'm
not tolerant of the view that prostitution is the oldest profession in the
world and there's nothing we can do to reduce it. Prostitution blights
communities. We will take a zero tolerance approach to kerb crawling. Men
who choose to use prostitutes are indirectly supporting drug dealers and
abusers. The power to confiscate driving licences already exists. We want
the police to use that power more.

Previously in her career she was
the chairperson of Liberty. This must make for a classic: I believe in
Liberty BUT...not for sex workers

I don't think most men who
use prostitutes think of themselves as child abusers, but they are, she
told The Observer. It could change things if we changed the view of
prostitution from "it's the oldest profession" to "this is the most common
form of child abuse".

Theresa May

Conservative Shadow Culture Secretary.

Joined a Daily Mail bandwagon to publish BBFC examiners names accused
of a lack of transparency over the decision to award War of the Worlds a 12A
certificate. She clearly has not done any research whatsoever. In reality
the BBFC are happy to discuss their decisions in detail with anyone
interested enough to enquire.

Frank McAveety

Scottish Culture Minister who supports the ludicrously unproportionate penalty of losing a driving licence
for the non crime of kerb crawling.

Chris McGimpsey

Ulster Unionist Councillor in Belfast refused licenses to sex shops saying
that they would have led to the setting up
of virtually a red light district in the area. The areas of Gresham Street and North Queen Street in the city centre
were designated as unsuitable for such shops, as people lived nearby and
children could use neighbouring stores. (This is the
weakest effort I have ever heard to cover up a gross abuse of power).

Andrew McIntosh

Labour Broadcasting Minister Andrew at the Department of
Censorship, Media and Shite.

He has proved himself to be a human rights
abuser by banning the satellite channel Extasi TV without justifying his
reasons or even explaining anything about why he considered the channel
to be worthy of censorship and a ban.

Malcolm McLean

Glasgow council's licensing applications
sub-committee convener, said the decision to reject a sex shop licence
application was in the best interests of its citizens. He said: This
was not a hard decision to make. We have always said that the appropriate
number of these kind of shops for Glasgow is zero.

Spoke out against the selling of softcore mags in tube station
newsagents. I'm not against people reading these magazines, and I'm not calling for
censorship, I accept that they are readily available in most newsagents. But why should
fare-paying customers have to put up with them when they travel on the Tube?
(A classic and shameful: I don't believe in censorship...but...)

David Nettleton

Independent St Edmundsbury borough councillor said about a
sex shop licence awarded to a man with a 9 year old conviction: I am not trying to
stamp out sex in the town, BUT we should support the local
constabulary and the fact my colleagues have overridden them is absolutely
disgusting.

Mike Penning

Conserative MP for Hemel Hempstead

Joined a Daily Mail
bandwagon to publish BBFC examiners names accused of a lack of transparency
over the decision to award War of the Worlds a 12A certificate. She clearly
has not done any research whatsoever. In reality the BBFC are happy to
discuss their decisions in detail with anyone interested enough to enquire.

Esther Rantzen

Television broadcaster who said:

Pornography has no joy, no art. It deliberately excludes tenderness,
and objectifies women. It is blatantly manipulative, designed to produce the
most primitive of responses. There is a myth that making pornography is
harmless fun. Maybe some women are tough enough to take part without being
scarred by the experience, but many are badly hurt. It’s not just
coincidence that most women I have met who were involved with pornography
were abused as children, as a result their bodies were no longer their own
private property; their personal boundaries had already been transgressed.
Some had reached the point where they loathed their own bodies and wanted to
punish themselves. There is no way these women enjoyed the experience of
making pornography, or regarded it as ‘fun’.

Barbara Roche

As Minister for Industry she announced that the Government is
keeping an open mind on the possible need for future regulation of the Internet
BUT
it is keen to encourage further progress of the removal of illegal and harmful/offensive
material.

She has also been instrumental in the Labour idea to extend the IWF to cover
the remit of of libel and copyright issues.

Always willing to support nutter causes she commented on a local club
applying to introduce nude table dancing. Roche said: I have spoken to
lots of residents in the sheltered housing accommodation next door to the
club, and everyone there is absolutely against it. I don't think it will be
a nice place for women to walk past at night. I think it would make people
feel less secure. Also, the club is right opposite the Civic Centre - what
kind of advert is that for the borough?

Martin Salter

Reading MP for Labour. One of the main campaigners for the
one of the most repressive censorship laws proposed for the UK for a long
time. The Dangerous Pictures Act will see people locked up for 3 years
merely for viewing pictures of staged violent porn.

Andrew Selous

Nutter Conservative MP (South-West Bedfordshire) tried to
incite the Government to sack the BBC over the broadcast of Jerry
Springer the Opera: What account she [Estelle Morris] will take of
standards of public decency in programmes screened by the BBC as part of her
decision on whether to renew the BBC charter

Clare Short

Labour Ex-Cabinet Minister

Famously campaigned against
topless pictures in newspapers and in particular against the Sun's Page 3
girls.

However she proved that she has a decent side by coming out against Tony
Blair's unjust and unjustified war against Iraq.

A particularly hypocritical entry into the Hall of Shame. On
one hand he rightfully expects tolerance for those that enjoy the minority sexual
preference of being gay but on the other, he refuses to tolerate the minority sexual
preference of those that like to watch porn.

As minister for Culture, Media and Sport he
issued a proscription order on the satellite porn channel Eurotica/Rendez-Vous. Heroically
the channel are fighting this in the High Court and may even take the decision through the
European Courts.

He later compounded his brand of New Labour Socialism by also moving against another
satellite porn channel Eros TV

Ironically, he has previously received the 1989 Freedom of Information Campaign Award.

Elaine Smith

Labour member of the Scottish Parliament led calls
for an inquiry into the "big business" of pornography: I think that since
studies do exist showing the harmful effects they should signal to us the
precautionary principle and they should be doing further research into it. I
don't think we can ignore it any longer.

Has made an immediate impact by using his jackboots to stamp
down hard on James Ferman's modest attempts to liberalise the guidelines for sex videos.
This relaxation was a practical attempt to try and find a compromise between what the
punter wants and what the law allows. Failure to find such a compromise is creating a very
strong black market in completely uncensored material but Jack only seems to care about
winning the vote of Daily Mail readers.

Straw has further wound up the BBFC by imposing
his choice of president (the Home Secretary was given the power to do this in Video
recordings Act of 1984). He selected
Andreas Whittam Smith
who believes that nothing of higher rating than PG should be allowed in the home.

A consensus of opinion appears to suggest that Jack Straw had the last word in the
debate with James Ferman by giving Ferman the push. David Alton
best summarises this; I feel the hand of Jack Straw at work. He believes sex and
violence in films should be reduced. Ferman would never go along with that. I suspect the
only people who will regret Mr Ferman's decision to retire will be the makers of violent
films.

"The purpose of the Home Office is: to build a safe, just and
tolerant
society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities
are properly balanced. (I presume this means that society must be tolerant
of appalling censorship and shall accept zero rights for the individual, none for the
family and even less for the community. Fairs fair).

On the subject of the internet he has declared that
his intention
that it cannot exist in an anarchistic free speech environment

In 2008 he became Injustice Minister pushing through
one of the most repressive censorship laws proposed for the UK for a
long time. The Dangerous Pictures Act will see people locked up for 3
years merely for viewing pictures of staged violent porn.

Gisela Stuart

Labour MP for Edgbaston in Birmingham who is proposing
extreme measures to deal with kerb crawling.

She said:
A man who can
afford a car and to pay a prostitute for sex can afford the fine. Cash penalties are no
deterrent. Losing their car will be a major deterrent. It could mean that the man
loses his job.

She says she is opposed to the "naming and shaming"
policy: We saw from the case of the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Alan
Green, who was caught kerb-crawling that innocent members of the family suffer. He lost
his job, his career was ruined. But his wife killed herself.
(But
these are exactly the sort of consequences that she is envisaging will happen as a result
of her measure)

Daily Mail film critic and a true Buthead;
Freedom of artistic expression is a great good,
but not
the only good - or the only freedom. None of the great defenders of free speech in the
past 300 years would have imagined that in the 20th century their arguments would be used
to enable the spread of paedophilia and child pornography (Neither would they imagine
that their arguments would be used to enable such repressive rags as the Daily Mail but
hey! shit happens)

When the Daily Mail lost their campaign to get
Crash banned they turned their attention to the individual censors at the BBFC and
particularly James Ferman. Tookey chipped in with articles under the headlines
Does
anything appall this man? and Time to sack this feeble censor.

He was the subject of a an episode of the Channel 4 series about critics; Critical
Condition. He was shown to be the critical equivalent of an ambulance chaser cruising the
festival circuit in search of a sniff of controversially that would appeal to the Daily
Mail.

Thani Ulaga-Nathan

Hackney Licensing Committee Spokesperson

Gave a predictably
bollox statement regarding the legal action against a Shoreditch strip pub. Thani
Ulaga-Nathan said Children walk past these premises everyday. Other ordinary members
of the public would be offended if unwittingly or otherwise confronted with striptease
acts. (Why is that intolerant campaigners for a miserable life try to
justify their nastiness by so unconvincingly bringing children into the equation. The
height of offense to a child passing by was a blackboard with the words "erotic
dancers" on. Children simply aren't allowed in the pub to see anything else).

Thanks to James, May 2008:
Not Possible

It should be clearly stated there in my opinion
that it is not possible to see inside a 'strip pub' from the outside
because of the boarding or non see through windows which are in place.
This is fact and applies to all people, not just children.

Labour MP for Leicester East. Nutter mentality furnishes
him with little vocabulary beyond "ban it".
Became Chairman of the Commons home affairs committee

November 2008: Nutter Bali Hoo

A flash animation in which players operate a suicide bomber and try
to kill as many men, women and children as possible has provoked nutter
outrage.

A senior Labour MP said Kaboom: The Suicide Bombing Game, which
is freely available to all age groups on the internet, devalues human
life and should be banned.

Players move a terrorist of Arab appearance along a busy street to get
as close as possible to the most civilians. They then click their mouse
and the bomber opens his coat to reveal grenades strapped to his body
before exploding in a shower of bloody limbs.

The more men, women and children are injured, the more points the player
receives.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, said
the game contained an unnecessary level of violence and offended
relatives of those killed by suicide bombers.

He also said he was deeply concerned that vulnerable users under
the age of 18 are able to play the game.

Bully

He asked Commons leader Geoff Hoon: Do you share my concern at the
decision of Rockstar to publish a new game called Bully in which players use
their on-screen persona to kick and punch other schoolchildren? Will you ask
the prime minister to refer this video to the British Board of Film
Classification? If they don't make any changes will the government use its
powers to ban this video?

In 2008 he said he would be summoning the BBFC to its hearings on knife
crime in October: The BBFC should realise there are scenes of
gratuitous violence in The Dark Knight to which I would certainly not
take my 11-year-old daughter. It should be a 15 classification.

Alexander Walker

Evening Standard film critic who declared that Crash
contained some of the most perverted acts of sexual deviance I have ever seen in
mainstream cinema. A tad exaggerated maybe?

Sandra White

SNP SMP for Glasgow on the cross-party group on
violence against women and children. She said she was "disgusted" by the plans
ato open a topless barber shop and vowed to picket the shop: I am appalled by this shop, it's degrading
to women and is part of this laddish culture treating women as playthings.
This objectifying is one reason why violence against women is going up. I
and other campaigners will picket the shop every day to shame men who go
there.

Later speaking about the conclusions of a task force set up by
the Scottish Executive she said: I welcome the steps that this group has
taken. Anything that helps stops the sex industry, I am in favour of. But
what they also need to do is change the law, so lap-dancing clubs are
licensed as sex shops. It would give councils the power to refuse licences
and not allow clubs to open in the first place. That's the crunch issue.

A former Conservative Home Office minister and long-standing
opponent of screen violence quoted; I feel strongly about the feebleness of the
censorship in this country. Promised to take David Alton's
amendment to the Crime and Disorder Bill to the Commons if the Lords had accepted it.

Also
known for targeting a family planning clinic that gave advice to youngsters under the age
of consent as it undermines the role of parents. I have always made it clear that
saying No is what we should be teaching young people. Unrealistic or what?

On the subject of the explicit mainstream film Nine Songs: It seems to me that the British Board of Film Classification
has thwarted the will of Parliament and disregarded its own guidelines. It is not the board's role to allow pornography to enter
the mainstream. This is something that David Blunkett should take a look
at.

Currently collaborating with David
Alton to table an amendment to the Crime & Disorder Bill to enable
certain organisations to appeal against BBFC decisions. Of course this amendment ensures a
one-sided right of appeal by only allowing appeals on grounds that the video work might
incite viewers to antisocial behaviour, crime or disorder.

She
also led the Lords in their overturning of the large democratic majority in favour of
lowering the homosexual age of consent to 16.

Said of a new lap dancing venue:
I think the decent, law-abiding folk
of Paisley won't want to bother with this sort of late-night pursuit. It is
not what the town centre needs.

George Allan

Islington Liberal Democrat Councillor and executive member
for public protection, said: The recent prosecution [for selling
unclassified videos] is another success for Islington Council's trading
standards team, who are fighting a battle against retailers selling
unclassified videos in the borough. We want to make it very clear that
retailers must not sell unclassified videos. We will continue to prosecute
those who break the law.

These videos were not obscene nor were they
sold to children. This is a non-crime and only shits crow about the
unnecessary punishment of one's fellow man

Dave Allen

Liverpool campaigner against the theatre tour of Jerry
Springer: The Opera.

He enlightened us with his view of his fellow man:
We do not think any
decent-minded person would want to watch this show.

Edinburgh licensing leader said on th esubject of
imposing licensing control on adult entertainment: It's something we've been
asking for years now. We're not trying to ban anything and we're not
moralising, BUT... we just want to ensure there are not too
many of these places in the one area and that they're not opening up next to
schools and churches.

Jezz Baker

Portsmouth Conservative councillor Jezz Baker who was on
the committee that voted against a sex shop application said,
This is a
crazy decision. I am very concerned that youngsters will have access to
hard-core pornographic filth.

So is this an even handed argument about
the location of the application or is it the view of a councillor believing
that his opinion overrules the law.

Tony Banks

Labour MP. Speaking on Richard and Judy on Channel 4 about
violent videogames he said that these videogames were as bad as child
pornography

Steve Bassam

Lord Bassam of Brighton, now a Labour Home Office minister

He
ably summed up New Labour's views on Liberty: Although the Government supported
freedom of expression it was more important to protect the public.

Roy Beggs

Ulster Unionist councillor in Larne

News October 2009: Flaunting Flesh

Roy Beggs — who proposed the anti-adult business motion in Larne — said
it was about time to show that it's a sin to flaunt flesh. Adam
and Eve covered up after the Garden of Eden, so I think these businesses
are completely inappropriate, the former east Antrim MP told Sunday
Life. I wanted council to let them know that if they approached us they
would not be treated favourably.

John Beyer

National Viewers and Listeners Association general secretary
always ready to give an obnoxious sound-bite to the Daily Mail. His response to the
resignation of Ferman is typical; Without any question he has presided over a
worsening situation. Films such as Lolita, Crash and Kissed ought never to be released
because of the unhealthy, immoral and destructive lifestyle they portray.

Reported Joan Bakewell's Taboo to the police because it aired a little of the poem that
Mary Whitehouse got prosecuted for blasphemy 30 years ago.

He suggested
that R18 hardcore should be included in the list of extreme pornography of
which mere possession would lead to a year 3 year jail sentence. The amount
of misery inflicted on people, their families and society in general would
be incalculable. This sadistic wish for the infliction of so much pain on
society is surely one of the worst cases of 'extreme pornography' that has
been reported to date. Does he also call for concentration camps to house
all the people that he wants imprisoned?

Dr. Esmond Birnie

Ulster Unionist MLA for South Belfast

[Typical bollox from someone with so little respect for human rights. His
presumed solution of a ban would hardly seem proportionate to the problem]

He said on the subject of hardcore being shown in Northern Ireland
hotels: The Hotel seems to take the view that what is watched in a room
is purely a matter for each guest. Sadly, however, this is not the case. The
availability of such material could have some impact on the staff who have
to work in the Hotel and move around the rooms.

Graham Brady

MP who said about a sex shop application that: it would
make the market quarter a "no-go area for families".

Stephen Bramley

Home Office legal adviser has been attributed with the idea
that having lost the capability to prosecute porn under obscenity law then the notion of
harm to children could be used instead.

It is important to tackle the subject of obscenity one way or
another to try to restrict it so that it is possible to stop the ever-increasing wave of
obscenity which is hitting us from every direction. If our civilisation is to survive, we
need to tackle the subject and curtail it so that we do not become one of the most
depraved and corrupt nations in the world, which is the direction in which we are moving.

Garry Brown

Newport Councillor Garry Brown campaigning against a
Rockbitch gig said: I think we should all get together - the council, the magistrates,
the police - and stop this.

Hugh Brown

From the Church of Scotland's Board of Social
Responsibility, said that while he did not believe in total censorship, there are
boundaries of decency which we think film producers have a moral duty not to cross and it
appears that these film may be crossing those boundaries.

Tom Buchanan

Omagh councillor who said he was horrified to learn that a
sex shop would open its doors in an
area of town which is frequented by children. I will not rest until it is closed. It is absolute filth and there is no
place for it in this town.

Allison Bucknell

Conservative councillor for Lyneham, Wiltshire.

She was
looking to use asbos to stop a villager from running a satirical website
about her village. She said: An Asbo is being looked at against Mr Hawkin.
He's causing a lot of damage to the community. An abuse of power or
what.

John Butterfill

MP for Bournemouth, West

It is entirely desirable for
us to have a system whereby the law can be enforced across the Community, and we can work
together to prevent drug smuggling, the dissemination of pornography and other awful
things;

Viscount Caldecote

Accused everyone who likes porn as being
depraved.

From a letter to the Times: For its policy (The
Video Appeals Committee) is not to worry about the harmful effects of widening the spread
of pornography amongst even a small minority of children, but rather to pander to the
depraved wishes of some adults.

Chris Cullum

Haverhill Town Councillor objecting to the theatre
presentation of Puppetry of the Penis:

I am not against all this
sort of thing, BUT... there was controversy a couple of years ago
when we had the issue of lap dancers and strippers appearing at Rush
Nightclub. Objections were raised on the town council and I just don't think
it is appropriate we should be hosting this in a small town like Haverhill.
I know we are trying to get Haverhill on the map, BUT... is this
really necessary? If we are having this are we going to get lap dancers and
strippers next? I don't see how you can allow one and refuse the others.

Menzies Campbell

Deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats blaming a tragic
murder on Marilyn Manson

With material of this kind freely available it is surely time to introduce a
system of uniform classification for all electronic media, The evidence in
the trial should be a powerful incentive. It may be difficult to establish a
direct link between material of this kind and violent behaviour but
we surely have to take a precautionary approach.

Charlie_grrl's
website is definitely worthy of mention in terms of their censorship
of comments deemed to be misogynist. Misandrist comments, however on
this site are rife.

Nominated by the Moron Farmers

Feminist who dubbed the Melon Farmers as Moron Famers after
including the organisation, Eaves, in the Nutter Watch section over their
complaints about a sitcom set in a brothel.

Charlie_grrl said:
Firstly, who would know more about the damage a sitcom about
prostitution could do, Eaves or MelonFarmers? I think the answer is
pretty clear, and MelonFarmers do not even attempt to argue against
Eaves’ views. And secondly, what sort of a website that is
interested in preventing censorship would refer to a group that has
done amazing work for the most powerless and silenced women as a
‘women’s nutter group’, simply because that group took a stance that
website disagreed with?

Melon Farmers replied: Surely I recognise the good work in setting up a
refuge. However the wish to imprison people just for viewing softcore
porn is more than ample justification for considering Eaves to be a
nutter organisation.

Sent a formal objection about the first Dudley table dancing club to the
council after receiving several complaints from constituents: I also have
a personal objectio. I just don't think it is appropriate
for Dudley. It is not in keeping with the way we want the town to develop.
We don't need this in an area that is being regenerated.

Lord Campbell of Croy

Seems to want all computer games involving car crime to be
banned.

He asked in the House of Lords:
whether the Government propose to modify
the system of classification under which the computer game Grand Theft Auto, which
allegedly involves thefts of cars and driving at excessive speeds to evade police cars,
has been granted an 18 certificate.

Menzies Campbell

Ex-not-so-Liberal Democrat leader

News October 2009: Naturally
Inclined Censor

Ranted about lads' mags on a parliamentary committee:

Sir Menzies said his natural inclination was against censorship...BUT...it
is unacceptable such material could be displayed at the eye level
of a six-year-old: The photographs and headlines on the front cover are
pretty lurid. The present code does not seem to be working and so it needs
to be tightened up considerably.

Crosby MP feels so strongly about the Sport that she is
urging parents to boycott WH Smith as part of her campaign to get the
newsagent to recognise it as pornography.

And where there is censor one
often has to scratch around a little to find the nutter roots. She has been
banging on about RE at a local St Luke's Church: Under a curriculum
currently being drawn up, RE lessons could include the teaching of atheism
and agnosticism, alongside Christianity. All of us who know God, know that
our children run the risk of being led away from the truth. It is so sad to
see our nation turning further and further away from God. Our culture is
based on Christianity. To teach the opposite to that is to undermine an
understanding of who we are as a nation. The more we turn away from God the
more our society degenerates, where will we be in 20 years time, there will
be consequences to pay. These things creep so subtly into our society, let's
together stand up for our beliefs and do something about it.

Jim Devine

Labour MP Jim Devine has generated an Early Day Motion on 17.11.2008.

Foul Language On Television

That this House deplores the level of foul language on television; and
congratulates the Daily Mirror's campaign to stop this abuse.

Joined the Daily Mail ban everything for the sake of the children
brigade. She called for the ban of the 15 rated Resident Evil 4: This
game shouldn't be sold, even to adults. It wallows in violence for
violence's sake.

Dilek Dogus

Haringey councillor

4th April 2009: Crouch End Lap
dancing

A heated debate erupted at a full Haringey council meeting. Councillor Dilek
Dogus (Labour) said: These clubs are a danger to women who
live and work around them and additional research has even linked them to sex
trafficking.

Drugs arrive, particularly cocaine, and these are shared
with the dancers. Then there are the extras where the line between prostitution
and dancing begins to blur."

She cited central London's Tottenham Court Road as an example, where rape cases
leaped by 50 per cent after a new club was opened, adding that rape was three
times more likely to happen in areas surrounding these venues.

Iain Duncan-Smith

One time Tory leader of the opposition

Joined the 2008 nutter onslaught against The Dark Knight after seeing it with his 15-year-old
daughter.

Describing it as "relentlessly violent" in a letter to a newspaper, he
wrote: I was astonished that the board could have seen fit to allow
anyone under the age of 15 to watch the film.

Keith Farr

Councillor for Forton ward, Gosport,
said about a sex shop licence application: It worries me that there is a
sex shop almost opposite a park where children play.

Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green.

March 2009: Crotchety

met anti lap dancing protesters on Saturday to offer her backing:
It is a free country and people should be allowed to do whatever they
like, so long as it doesn't harm others. ...BUT... this particular
case - because of where it is in a busy high street, with teenagers and
mothers and vulnerable people nearby - is not a suitable location.

Joe Fitzpatrick

Tameside councillor with damning views on sex shops:
The only place for a sex shop was in hell.

Anna Ford

A classic I don't believe in censorship
but...

But without arguing for censorship, which I do not, have we got lost
in our new-found liberalism? Are we afraid to speak out, to condemn things we won't
tolerate?

Michael Foster

MP for Hastings who campaigns to ban the computer game
Bully on the basis of the title and certainly before anyone has received a
public copy

Reverend Bruce Gardner

Minister at Banchory-Devenick in Aberdeenshire

Gardner is
opposed to particular scenes in Jerry Springer: The Opera where God
and Jesus Christ appear as guests on the Jerry Springer show. He claims this
is an attack on the Christian community, who, he says, are being "singled
out" in the same way as Jews were in Nazi Germany, and is calling for the
scenes to be removed: It is disgraceful that a demonstration of contempt
for things regarded as holy by many is being defended on the grounds that
'free speech' will be denied unless one section of the population is allowed
to be attacked. While not wishing to exaggerate unduly, this is how the Jews
were singled out in Nazi Germany, first for ridicule, then contempt, then
persecution.

Rev Viv Gasteen

Reverend of the Central Methodist Church, in Warwick Road,
Coventry said: What is the world coming to when we need one of these
[sex] shops in Coventry? It is totally unnecessary.

Chairman of Churches Together in Chester. In a biblical and
shameful statement about a new lap dancing venue said: There is a saying
in the Bible that everything is permissible, BUT... not everything is
beneficial.For the girls and men involved it is quite degrading, but
is this really beneficial for the city of Chester?

Peter Hain

The Welsh Secretary
said that he found the location of a sex shop next to his constituency
office "unacceptable".

Bryan Hall

Councillor for Wickham Market who campaigned on behalf of
a sex shop ban and couldn't even support a compromise to make the business a
mail order operation only.

David Hanson

Labour MP for Delyn

Keen support for the persecution of
those simply viewing extreme porn images: Violent pornographic images are
grossly offensive to the vast majority of people and could encourage violent
attacks. The sorts of images being considered for this ban would not be
allowed in films or even sold in licensed shops, so they should be available
online either. In some cases those featured may be the victims of criminal
acts.

At the moment, many of these appalling sites are hosted from abroad so it is
difficult for the police to prosecute those who distribute the images,
something that is already an offence. So I think this new law would make it
easier for North Wales Police to take action against those who access this
material.

Rent-a-quote campaigner with Scottish Women Against
Pornography. On the subject of providing porn to the handicapped she said:
I'm appalled that people with learning difficulties are to be encouraged
to access pornography. It has links with violence against women and
children, including rape and sexual abuse.'

Colin Hart

Director of the Christian Institute, said:
Younger and
younger children are being confronted with violent and sexual images they would not have
been a generation ago. Television appears to be out of control.

He quit saying that the satirical cartoon television show
has overstepped the mark with its ridiculing of religion. There is a
place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and
intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins,
said Hayes, an outspoken Scientologist who has voiced the character of
the school cook in the series since 1997. Religious beliefs are
sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honoured. As
a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show
that disrespects those beliefs and practices.

Matt Stone, co-creator of
South Park, said: This is 100 per
cent having to do with his faith of Scientology. He has no problem - and
he's cashed plenty of cheques - with our show making fun of Christians.
We never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology.He wants a different standard for religions other than his own and,
to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin.

Norman Hazell

Holier than thou Wakefield
councillor who spouted the following bollox about a prospective lap dancing
club:

It's an absolute disgrace.They may well have it in Leeds and Bradford – I would say to them 'let them
have it there if they want it' because we certainly don't want it here. We have got to try to preserve the Christian ethos in the city.
There are enough people coming into Wakefield for the clubs – people who see
the need for lap dancing are not the sort of people we want to see coming
into the city centre.

Hugh Henry

Paisley South MSP

On the subject of a new lap dancing
venue: The opening of this club is a sad day for Paisley. There is no
place in this town for so-called entertainment which demeans and degrades
women.

Local councillor in Rotherham. Objecting to a sex shop,
said: There are lot of people who are unhappy about this. It is just the
wrong place - it is on a main road and will be there for everyone to see.

As if the mere sight of a sex shop is enough to
justify his repression of his fellow man

Stewart Jackson

Peterborough's MP

Called on the city council to reclassify the rating given to The
Dark Knight.

Stewart Jackson has written to the council's chief executive Gillian
Beasley, expressing concerns over the 12A rating given to the film, which
has attracted nutter controversy because of its violent content and dark
themes.

In his letter, Jackson reminded her that the council can use its
discretion under current legislation to reclassify the rating given by the
BBFC. He said: I am not a spoilsport and I have seen this film...BUT...I
sincerely believe that it is not suitable for children. The violence is
gratuitous and the dark themes inappropriate for children's viewing.

David Johnson

Head of communications for Liverpool
Diocese, said: We have grave concerns about the place of hardcore sex
shops in a civilised society. It does not bode well for Liverpool when it is
talking about being a city of culture, to be encouraging this kind of
development. [The Melon Farmers have grave concerns
about the place of intolerance in a civilised society]

Peter Johnson

Stockport's Plaza Theatre box office manager whinging about
a nearby sex shop: It’s not for the Plaza to be for or against sex shops,
[BUT...] we just believe the location is not right. Hundreds of
children walk past every day.

Tessa Jowell

Labour Minister

August 2008: No Coco

Tess Jowell supported the nutters of West Norwood against a strip pub,
she wrote:

I share fully the widely held views in West
Norwood of the potentially very serious consequences to the local
community should this licence application be approved. As your local
Member of Parliament I have written to Lambeth Council's Licensing
Department outlining local residents’ strong objections to this license
application.

I hope that this totally inappropriate license application is turned down.

Rev Tom Kant

Minister at the Laigh Kirk branded a topless barber shop as
'sordid' and degrading to men and women. There is no place
for this shop in Paisley,

Frank Keegan

Cheshire councillor

June 2009: Re lap dancing in
Wilmslow

It is quite appalling to have this in the centre
of Wilmslow, which is a family town. It is totally inappropriate. The
proprietors say it will cater for a more mature customer - by that I take
it they mean dirty old men. Maybe there will be a run on macs in the local
shops. Hopefully, it will go bust, it won't attract customers and will
wither on the vine.

Jane Kennedy

Labour Works & Pensions Minister & MP for Wavertree

She complained of Liverpool's tolerance zone idea:
Prostitution is
normally part of organised criminal activity, which also involves
people-trafficking, drug dealing, counterfeiting goods, smuggling and
money-laundering.

(Yes but that's because bollox politicians like
Kennedy criminalise it)

Ken King

York councillor on the subject of lap dancing licence
applications: I don't have a problem in principle with these
establishments, ...although... I do sometimes feel sorry for
those people who feel they need to go to them.

Seven would be too many. That would seem a lot for a place the size of
York. I just can't imagine there would be the clientele within the city to
make that many viable. I can only imagine that people would come in from
outside.

Joanne Kingsland

Human rights abuser on Gateshead council who sets her
personal dislike of sex shops above the rights of those she represents.

David Lammy

August 2008: Another Nutter MP

The latest Batman movie has put Tottenham MP David Lammy in a flap
after he condemned the film for its "disturbing" content.

The Tottenham MP wrote to the BBFC claiming The Dark Knight's
depiction of knife violence and brutality is too much for a film
classified as only 12A. He said: Many Tottenham parents will take their
children to see the new Batman film only to learn that the cumulative
effect of the violence in this film is very disturbing. The film goes far
beyond the superhero or fantasy film tradition.

Lammy has demanded the BBFC be made accountable to parents, adding that it
is "unacceptable" to expose young children to graphic scenes. But he did
call the film accomplished and very enjoyable.

Trish Law

Independent AM for Blaenau Gwent.

November 2008: Call That Upholding
Freedom of Speech?

Trish Law has written to the Assembly’s Presiding Officer, Lord Dafydd
Elis-Thomas to complain about the planned reading of Patrick Jones’
atheist poems in the Assembly:

I uphold freedom of speech [...BUT...] I
cannot condone the reading of blasphemous, obscene and perverted poems
in the National Assembly. We are still a Christian country, yet one that
acknowledges and readily accepts other religious beliefs and values. So
while we would not tolerate other religions and religious leaders being
insulted through verse or deed neither should we expect Christ and
Christianity to be subjected to a tirade of anti-Christian rhetoric and
profanity.

I implore you to put a stop to this reading on December 11 in the name
of decency and humanity.

Robert Light

Kirklees Council Conservative Leader.

Said he thinks
there has to be a point when the number of lap dancing clubs must be
limited. I believe it is very important clubs like this one need to be
approved only after a lot of thought and a moral judgement.As a
father I ask myself would I want my children walking past these places and
asking questions?We have a duty to protect their innocence and lap
dancing clubs and other shops that are already in town centres don't make it
easy.

He seems to think that his moral judgement is somehow
better than those that want to visit or work in a lap dancing clubs

Granville Lord

Burnley Councillor who said he considered it to be totally
degrading to the community to have sex shops in the town. It is disgusting to the
people of Burnley. I don't feel there is any room for them in this town, there is always
mail order e-mail or the Internet for anyone who wants it, he added.

Jo Lovelock

Reading Councillor objected to the transfer of a sex
shop licence. She said: If there was an opportunity to remove this
establishment, which is near to a primary school, it would be desirable. The
council and police are working hard with local people to overcome the seedy
image of Oxford Road and fewer sex shops would help towards that objective.

Shahid Malik

MP for Dewsbury

News September 2009: Forbidden
Enjoyment of Life

Nutter MP Shahid Malik has launched a petition against the lapdancing venue
Forbidden.

The Forbidden nightclub on Bradford Road was granted permission earlier
this month to offer lapdancing, pole dancing and private dancing in
booths.

The Dewsbury MP this week started a petition against the club, claiming
it could make Dewsbury a magnet for the sex industry. After
having campaigned vigorously to regenerate the town centre the prospect of
having a lap dancing club would be a tragic set back which would damage
the image of Dewsbury. We do not want to cultivate an image of a seedy
town but rather a family-oriented town. If this is allowed to develop then
Dewsbury could become a magnet for the sex industry, which would be a
disaster.

Father Francis Martin

Moral theologian for
Liverpool's Catholic Archdiocese, said he was disappointed about the
granting of a sex shop license: Pornography degrades both those who make it and those who use
it, and corrupts men's attitudes towards women. [Religion degrades both those who preach it and those abuse it, and corrupts
men's attitudes towards tolerance of their fellow men]

Paddy McGowan

Omagh councillor who has displayed arrogance beyond belief
on the subject of a local sex shop. He rejected any notion that he was being
narrow-minded: I do not think
it is me who has the problem. The people with the problem are those who frequent shops like that.

R Meads

Anti-Smuggling Manager at HM Thieves & Excise.

Sent
the following bullying letter to someone being caught importing adult consensual porn for
the 3rd time. Of course Customs continually refuse to justify why they consider such porn
obscene in the first place:

You were recently sent a "Notice of Seizure" form C&E 41 in respect
of an importation of DVD's. This notice warns of the possibilty of criminal proceedings
being instituted against importers of indecent and obscene material.

After careful consideration it has been decided under the provisions of the law
available to the customs and excise to confine our action in this instance to seizure of
the goods involved. You are warned however that similar leniency may not be extended to
you if you are again reported for an offence of this nature.

It should be understood that in the event of a conviction in future
for an offence under the customs and excise acts, details of this seizure
may be given to the court.

Andrew Mitchell

Tory MP for Sutton Coldfield

November 2008: Re Lap Dancing at
Flint's

In a letter to residents: I am quite clear that Mere Green and
Sutton Coldfield are not appropriate locations for this sort of activity.

Chris Mole

Labour MP for Ipswich

November 2008: Nutter Mole

A nutter Labour MP has urged the BBC to dismiss Top Gear host
Jeremy Clarkson over a joke he made on the motoring show.

And while TV censor Ofcom has said the remark was not a breach of the
broadcasting code, Ipswich MP Chris Mole claimed it was a dismissible
offence.

Mole was 'offended' by the possible reference to the murders committed
by Steve Wright in Suffolk and has written a strongly-worded
letter to the BBC's director general Mark Thompson:

The murders in my constituency in 2006 were
horrific and the community has spent a lot of time pulling together to
respond constructively to such dreadful events, he wrote.

For Mr Clarkson to make light of murder in any
circumstance must be a dismissible offence. To do so with complete
disregard for the families of the murdered women should make this a
matter on which I would expect you to take immediate action.

Dave Nellis

Coventry councillor in the "social alliance".
There always has to be a nutter when it comes to a sex shop licence application.

Gosford
street is an old street, with a number of historic timber framed buildings on it, and some
old weavers' top-shops. It's also an absolute dumped, lined with fast food joints, pubs,
restaurants, & 2nd hand shops. There's also a lot of derelict shops and odd little
industrial units along it. Nellist complained that a sex shop would bring the street down!
[One of his fellow socialist alliance councillors works for the Cyrenians, and their HQ is
on this street, complete with boarded up windows -- looks very nice!].

Elizabeth Newson

Produced a report after the Jamie Bolger killing that is
cited by many as evidence against violent videos. In this report she said:
Many of us
hold our liberal ideals of freedom of expression dear, BUT... now begin
to feel that we were naive in our failure to predict the extent of damaging material and
its all too free availability to children.

Lord Northbourne

In supporting the Earl of
Halsbury's 1999 Obscenity Bill he came up with the following to try and suggest that
exposure
to pornography produces an enhanced interest in deviant sexuality

The process is referred to as "escalation". It results from the concept
of normalisation--that is, the more you read about these things happening, the more you
begin to believe that they may not be so awful after all and to say, Lots of other people
are doing them, so why shouldn't I?. One thus becomes desensitised

Stephen Ogden

Altrincham ward councillor wrote to a child protesting
about a sex shop: I wrote to Georgia-May today on this matter. I share
her sentiments.

And the child's views that he was supporting in a letter to the council:
If we let these people have their way and get their filthy shop then we let
something terrible happen. This shop will attract paedophiles, perverts and
rapists. As well as the fact that the crime rate may rise, we will be
letting children in the community get contaminated. Altrincham will become
an alleyway of crime with strange people hanging around when children are
walking home from school as it is a direct route from Loreto Grammar School
which I attend. I do hope you take my points seriously and help me crush the
people who are giving Altrincham a bad name.

Mike Olley

Birmingham Councillor who whinged about humorous posters
for lap dancing clubs: We allowed clubs self regulation, but it is clear some cannot behave in a
responsible manner.

Self regulation was clearly not allowed. Lap
dancing clubs are regulated to the point of being totally sterile.

Geraldine Ormonde

Human rights abuser on Gateshead council who sets her
personal dislike of sex shops above the rights of those she represents.

Abdul Osman

Vice Chair of the Leicester Council Licensing
Committe who voted against a special one-off showing of the Last House on the
Left. He was in the minority of one in an otherwise heroic effort from Leicester
Council.

Albert Owen

MP for Anglesey

28th December 2008: Unwanted

Owen who has his constituency office on the same street as a proposed
sex shop site, said: This is the wrong type of development for a
popular street like this which has had a lot of investment by traders in
the past few years. This shop would negate all the good work that has been
done on this street. This is not something that is wanted in this town.

Yinka Oyekan

Baptist minister of Grovelands Christian Fellowship,
Reading: ulnerable youngsters need protection and we certainly don't need
more sexual liberalism in our town. The problem with sex shops is that, by
definition, they offer various materials of an adult content. That attracts
men, and some women, we might not want in the area.

Ricky Panter

Archdeacon of Liverpool whinged about a hair care advert alluding to
Christianity

Panter said: It seemed to me the advertisement
crossed a line. I felt very uncomfortable with it. It was targeting the
Lord’s Prayer and I felt it was taking the mick. This is not about
censorship or about being prudish...[BUT]...It is simply about every individual’s
right to signal when they think a line has been crossed.

Anne Parry

Mayor of Llandudno expressed outrage at proposals for an
adult store on Llandudno's main street: We don't want that sort of thing
in Llandudno. We are a Victorian town, what would our ancestors think? The
Victorians had good standards and principles.

Quoting that the Victorians had good standards hardly counts as a
justification for human rights abuse.

Ann Pearston

Founded the Dunblane Snowdrop Campaign in March 1996, said
she was horrified at some of the graphic images in Club a Seal internet
game. She said: I really question the benefits of the internet with children. Parents
are not going to be able to stop the manufacturers of these games, so people in the
industry must club together with the Government to try and regulate the web.

On the subject of lads' mags: Whilst freedom of speech and expression are
rightly defended foundations of our society...[BUT]... it is
frankly disgusting that these liberties can be exploited to the extent where
children have free access to such degrading explicit material.

The Internet is a fantastic
development...but it is difficult to estimate the harm that it can do
when it is exploited by peddlers of pornography and other crooks. I suggest that the
greatest challenge before us is to find ways of combining high-quality technical training
with a proper grounding in ethics and morality (Too true, if
Prince Philip had a proper grounding in ethics he wouldn't be trying deny his own subjects
their sexual pleasures)

Rev Dr William Philip

From Glasgow's St George's Tron, said on the subject of a
lap dancing licence application: We have objected in the past to a
similar application elsewhere in the city centre. We will also object to
this - not because it's on our doorstep but because this is not the kind of
thing we should have in this city.

Peter Pike

Burnley MP who sided with Mediawatch-UK to call for
MTV's stunt show Jackass to be banned

David Puttnam

Film producer (and ex-Hollywood film producer)

Puttnam blamed Hollywood films for fuelling a culture of bullying in
British schools. He said films that featured violence and aggression devoid of human consequences were leading to the growth of bullying in
the playground, with children imitating what they saw on the big and small
screens. He added that films were dumbing down and failing to address real
moral problems.

Valerie Riches

Spokesperson for Family and Youth Concern accused the BBFC
of being incapable of differentiating between what is corrupt and healthy.

Later commented on the subject of the subject of the Playboy
Channel on hotel TV: B&Bs and small hotels are mainly used by families,
particularly those with young children. To have them exposed to this kind of gross
material is distressing and disturbing.

Jim Rodgers

Ulster Unionist who said about an appeal court ruling that
Belfast Council were abusing human rights in their blanket ban on sex shops:
a deeply worrying precedent had been set.The human rights excuse
is being used left, right and centre. It is absolutely horrendous. Human
rights has gone mad.I'm all for human rights being protected
BUT.. I don't think this ruling is in the best interests of the city.

John Rogers

Neath and Port Talbot councillor

Feb 2009: Nursing Intolerance

Whinged at sexy nurses uniforms in sex shop window display:

John Rogers and Anthony Taylor wrote: They (the residents) believe
some of the items that have been featured have been of an offensive nature
and unsuitable for passers-by on a main road. Of particular concern was a
display that included nurse uniforms, which generated complaints from
local nurses who felt they were being subjected to an unfair and degrading
image of their profession.

It shows the depth of
nutterdom when they object to trade shows with no public access. Just the
knowledge that business people are talking about adult products is enough to
get them foaming at the mouth.

He said:
The NEC must be desperate to have to
agree to an exhibition like this. I understood that the NEC was a premier
national and international centre and I do not see why they would scrape the
barrel with an event like this. It saddens me that the NEC feels it can
agree to hold this. I think it's sending out the wrong signals to the region
and the rest of the country that the NEC is having to rely on the porn
industry for business. It detracts from the quality we expect from the NEC.

Mohammed Sabir,

Peterborough councillor who selectively represents Central
Ward

A table-dancing club is not something we should encourage –
Peterborough is not that kind of city. It isn't right for us. We already
have enough ordinary clubs and people are more into going out with families
than this sort of thing.He also worried that the club
could attract sex maniacs.
Sounds like a throwback to Mary Whitehouse speak of the 60s

Sir Iqbal Sacranie

Head of the Muslim Council of Britain, said same-sex
relationships risked damaging the very foundations of society. He said that
homosexuality spread disease and was immoral.

A man at the forefront of the book-burning mob who threatened Rushdie’s
life, when Sacranie declared: Death, I think, is too easy for him.
For this part in incitement to murder, Sacranie was awarded not the stiff
custodial sentence one might expect, but a knighthood.

Sir Iqbal said civil partnerships were "harmful" and not acceptable:
This is harmful. It does not augur well in building the very foundations of
society - stability, family relationships. And it is something we would
certainly not in any form encourage the community to be involved in.

Speaking on BBC Radio Four's PM programme, Sir Iqbal underlined the
importance of tolerance... BUT... asked if homosexuality
itself was harmful to society he said: What is not acceptable, there is a
good reason for it. Each of our faiths tell us that it is harmful and I
think, if you look into the scientific evidence that has been available in
terms of the forms of various other illnesses and diseases that are there,
surely it points out that where homosexuality is practised there is a
greater concern in that area.

Joyce Sanders

Derbyshire County Council's cabinet member for community
services who totally exaggerated the seriousness of a sale of legal
R18 material to adults.: If pornography is sold from car boot sales there is
no control over who can buy it which means it can get into the hands of
children.This is a serious case and we will continue to scour
Derbyshire for similar practices and prosecute where we find pornographic
material being sold in this way.

Phil Shaddock

Liberal Democrat Portsmouth Councillor

Snitched on a
fellow councillor for the ludicrous crime of downloading internet porn. It is not even as
if the supposed offence was committed at work or on work time. The only vague suggestion
of improprietory was that the councillor had used a lap-top on permanent loan from the
council.

Newsagent who campaigned against pre-packaged wholesale
magazines that contained porn.

Hamdy Shahein was shamefully quoted in the
Guardian: I believe in freedom of choice, and my choice is not to sell
this material [...BUT... he organised a
petition with the desire outcome to stop all newsagents and other high
street stores from selling selling pornography. that shows he certainly DOES
NOT believe in freedom of choice]

Edinburgh Labour councillor who was appointed to a Scottish
Executive taskforce which will explore Scotland's lapdancing clubs and sex
shops said about a possible Deep Throat screening: I don't see any
reason why the Cameo should be showing it. There can't be any artistic or
cultural reason for screening this. But of course she did not mention
any justification for denying us our right to watch adult entertainment
purely for sexual pleasure.

Joan Skinner

Campaigner with Scottish Women Against Pornography:
Although we are opposed to censorship, we urge the Parliament to take a lead
in changing attitudes to pornography in Scotland. It can do that by
introducing legislation that effectively addresses the issue of pornography
and by developing a strategy for raising throughout the country public
awareness of the harm that pornography does.

Rev Martin Smyth

Belfast MP who spewed bollox about a local lap dancing
club:

There are so many reasons for refusing this application and none
that I can think of for allowing it. The people who run it should never have
got the licence in the first place because it is just not the sort of thing
people in south Belfast want

the most that can be said is that
video works containing more or less comparable material to that in Makin' Whoopee!
are likely not to be considered obscene by the Video Appeals Committe. It does not
automatically follow from this, that all material which is likely not to be found obscene
by the VAC is automatically suitable for classification.

This is blantantly a perversion of the law. The law states that R18
videos should only be limited by the law of the land and if it ain't obscene then it ain't
legal to ban it.

Anthony Taylor

Neath and Port Talbot councillor

Feb 2009: Nursing Intolerance

Whinged at sexy nurses uniforms in sex shop window display:

John Rogers and Anthony Taylor wrote: They (the residents) believe
some of the items that have been featured have been of an offensive nature
and unsuitable for passers-by on a main road. Of particular concern was a
display that included nurse uniforms, which generated complaints from
local nurses who felt they were being subjected to an unfair and degrading
image of their profession.

Maggie Throup said she felt the club was totally inappropriate
for the area. She said: Solihull is a family town. If the owner says
this will bring in more business then I'm not sure it's the kind of
business we would want. I think this shows the whole mess of the licensing
and entertainment laws that have allowed something like this into a town
like Solihull.

Stephen Venner

The Bishop of Dover on the subject of computer games and in
particular Manhunt: Anybody playing these games is allowing some of the
worst parts of their personality to come to the fore. I cannot see any
justification for allowing these games to be on sale at all. It treats
other human beings as objects simply to be despatched with, which is the
worst sort of abuse imaginable. We are in a society where human rights and
freedom seem to be the end of all we seek, and in any civilsed society there
must be limits to the extent that people can degrade themselves and others

Andrew Vessey

The vicar of St Mary's, in Swansea

August 2009: Whinging at lap
dancing at the Fantasy Lounge

The vicar of St Mary's, in Swansea, Andrew Vessey, challenged the
council to show it had standards and said the club would be an
inappropriate use of space and of the female
body: What people do with their own money and time is up to them...BUT...when
it's clearly open to the public in a city centre that has already got
quite enough venues, there is a concern by those of us who have standards
and ideals that this is inappropriate. It's an inappropriate use of space
and inappropriate use of the female body.

He said the club would be degrading and was purely about making money:
Many of them are not doing this for fun, but because
they have to for money. I think there comes a point where the public needs
to be protected from people. It's simply about making money. There must be
a point where we say enough is enough.

People who seem to be dependent on that kind of stimulus have got plenty
of outlets already. We have a fine city and we have some great traditions
here, by way of enterprise and creativity. Do we want Swansea to be
synonymous as a place to watch lap dancing? There's already a plethora of
nightclubs in Swansea. There must come a point where public concerns about
standards have to be listened to.

TV presenter who said she wanted to become a TV regulator
and become a moral campaigner against sex and violence. She continued:
There is a real
backlash in this country against sex and violence. People have had enough. They're fed up
with pushy young girls who want to take their tops off.

She
has also revealed to She Magazine that I'm going to have a chair just like this when
I'm a Governor of the BBC. I'd make a good Governor, don't you think? (What a
nightmare)

Presented a very substandard TV news report reiterating the standard conflation that
"all porn is child porn". Vorderman claimed that as businesses had been able to
stop the spread of the "love bug" virus, it would equally be possible to censor
the internet, and the only thing lacking was the will to do it. The usual Daily Mail-style
catch-all generalisation and swingeing remedy

Keith Wakefield

Leader of Labour Group on Leeds Council on the subject of a
table dancing licence:

I find it disgraceful and disrespectful that this
type of club should be considered within yards of such a poignant memorial,
especially when the proposals include Sunday opening. Lap-dancing clubs tend
to attract a certain level of clientele and I am sure that members of the
public walking along The Headrow do not want to see or hear people stumbling
in and out of this place at unsociable hours.

John Walsh

Astley Bridge councillor on the subject of a sex shop
application: I don't believe there's a right location for this kind of
thing, but this is definitely the wrong one.

Nigel Waterson

Eastbourne MP said about a sex shop application:
I
share residents' concerns as this will be bang in the middle of the town
centre. It is the last thing we want. I will be writing to the council to
express my concerns. If we have to have these sort of shops in Eastbourne I
would rather they were tucked away in a back street somewhere instead of
being in the middle of the town centre. It is not good for the town's
image.'

Steve Webb

Lib Dem spokesman on work and pensions, was
the only Lib Dem MP to express reservations about the new liberal policy I am
concerned about the widening availability of pornography to younger people. More
pornography demeans us all.

And
on the subject of civil servants caught downloading porn: Any public servant who accesses porn sites at work
should lose their job. There has to be a zero tolerance approach.

Ian Westwood

Deputy chairman of the Police Federation,
said recently: We are not in the business of censorship. But we do have real concerns
about the glamorisation of violence and crime in games.
(so all
the police raids in support of censorhip must be figments of the victim's imagination
then)

Sandra White

MSP,
who has fought to stop several sex establishments opening in Scotland.
After the rejection of a sex shop in Glasgow she said the decision reflected public opinion.
She added: I am absolutely delighted
the council has taken this stance.

She has also raised a motion in the
Scottish Parliament calling for a ban on topless barber shops. This is a massage parlour by any other name, she said.

Tony Wilds

The archdeacon of Plymouth who shamefully spouted off about
Jerry Springer:
The Opera

He said that he was in favour of the principle of free speech...
BUT... he argues that Springer takes undue liberties
according to this standard. The abusive portrayal of figures held by Christians
to be [dear] should be recognised by all people of goodwill as unfair and
unacceptable ...

Reverend Geoffrey
Willetts

West Street Baptist
Church: Crewe already has one sex shop and we don't believe it needs any
more. We also object on moral grounds, although we know the council cannot
reject the application on that. Ladies are made in the image of God and
they're not things or items, they need to be valued as more than that. We
also believe it's awfully sad when people want to make money out of people's
weaknesses. (Lets hope that that Willetts isn't made
in the image of God, I would hate to think that God was a bitter individual
who would deny sexual pleasure to others)

David Winskill

Crouch End councillor

Feb 2009:

Whinging at lap dancing at the Music Palace

Moral crusader David Winskill (Not so Liberal Democrat) said:
The
overwhelming response is hostile and local councillors will be offering any
support we can to see off this totally inappropriate application. This is not a
moral crusade...[BUT]... This is about a development that is
totally inappropriate in a residential area where there is a school around
the corner.

Mike Winstanley

Wigan Conservative councillor

July 2009:

Whinging at Fetish Rocks show

Councillor Mike Winstanley, Conservative group opposition leader on
Wigan Council, said: I am, quite frankly, shocked.
They talk about this being an example of cultural diversity but as far as
I am concerned this is nothing more than pornography. I don't think this
is appropriate. We should be looking to attract families into Wigan, not
weirdos.

Reverend Peter Wood

Of Newport's Summerhill Baptist Church campaigning a
Rockbitch gig said: This is a challenge to the values of the whole of Western society.
It's important we don't just dismiss these people and their views as a joke - it's
actually very dangerous.

Dr Tom Wright

The Bishop of Durham blamed the whole
worlds evil on sex:

If we don't keep sex in its proper place
perhaps we shouldn't be surprised when it backfires on us. I don't know what
sort of a mindset Ian Huntley had but I do know that he grew up in a world
so soaked in a free-and-easy sex culture, a pornography culture which says
'sex is there for the taking, everyone wants it really', without any sense
of human dignity or of the preciousness of sex.

Reverend Rob Wykes

Crewe Christian
Concern. Said a Crewe sex shop would be "wholly inappropriate" on the busy
Market Street. He said many families were concerned about the nature of
goods planned to be sold in the shop, including restricted-sale pornographic
videos. He said: Obviously, this would be in completely the wrong place.
On one Saturday we counted that in just 45 minutes more than 450 people
walked past the door of the proposed shop, and they included mums with young
children. (So passers by is an adequate reason for
denying sexual pleasures to his fellow man))

Sally Young

Human rights abuser on Gateshead council who sets her
personal dislike of sex shops above the rights of those she represents.

Raja Zarait

Slough Labour councillor

Seemed to let
personal religious views arise above the law to properly justify
restrictions. A pub was refused permission for striptease claiming it would
'affect the safety of the neighbourhood' This claim seemed to be based on
the following statement from Zarait

There is already a lot of noise when people leave the pub using
immoral language. Two ladies said men leaving the pub made sexual
gestures towards them, and they said they now do not feel safe leaving the
house

Petition organiser against Rotherham sex shop said:
I'm
no prude BUT... dirty old men could be hanging around outside the
shop and I have to go past it at least four times a day with my
grandchildren. We'd rather have a fruit shop or a chemists shop round here.
Anything other than a sex shop.

Anne Dixon

August 2008: Censorial Twats

Anne Dixon made the Daily Mail for taking the publishers of a
children's book to task for using the word 'twat'.

She said: I am not a prude. In fact, I am quite broad-minded,
...BUT... this is completely inappropriate for children.

The book has an attractive cover and is clearly for children. They should
not have to be subjected to trash and vulgarity. I did not expect this
from a well-respected author and do not want my young niece to have to see
this obscene slang.

Marie
Fitzpatrick

Mayor of Kilkenny on the licensing of a lap
dancing bar in 2008:

It's the beginning of the end for Kilkenny
city. I'm very saddened and disappointed by the decision to grant a
licence, but it is now out of our hands, said Marie Fitzpatrick, the
old prude Mayor of Kilkenny: It's also going to take a lot from the
tourist trade that we depend on here, as well as adding fuel to the
drinking culture. I also believe the crime rate for assaults on women will
go up.

I know people will think I'm being old fashioned, but someone has to stand
up for morals. I'm not an old prude, I'm not anti-social and I'm not
against alcohol ...[BUT]... It's just the long-term effects for
Kilkenny city I'm concerned about,

Terry Follows

Stoke councillor who received complaints from
parents concerned about their children seeing a billboard advertising a
sex shop.

Councillor Follows said: I'm no prude...BUT... I've had a number
of complaints about it. Do we want that sort of billboard plastered around
our city?People have been trying to explain to their children what
it means and it can be very awkward.

Viv Gasteen

Coventry Methodist Central Hall minister, lodged an
eleventh hour objection to plans to convert the Red bar in the City Arcade
in to a pole and lap dancing venue. He said: I'm not a prude and
none of my family are prudes. I have three grown up sons and six
grandchildren aged between eight and 23 and so I know what young people
enjoy. BUT... there is a limit.

Susan Hall

Susan Hall, a councillor in the London borough of Harrow.

27th December 2008: Longer Lasting Sex

She complained about the "Longer Lasting Sex" billboards, said they
make the Club 18-30 package holiday company adverts look
like nuanced triumphs of understatement. We are no prudes, ...BUT...
there is a difference between adverts which are a little risque – like
the Wonderbra commercials – and billboards like these which are just
crass.

Menna Jones

A student union women's officer prude at the University of
Wales, Aberystwyth said about a local club's first topless dancing show.
I was shocked by what I saw. Some of the things these dancers were doing
were very explicit. I'm not a prude by any means, BUT... I just
wasn't comfortable at all watching that.

Terry Kelly

Ex Mayor of Lowestoft on the subject of a topless bar:
I'm not a prude BUT... I don't think sex shops and lap-dancing clubs
are a good idea, and I don't think I would like to see Lowestoft going that
way.

I know this is a topless bar but Lowestoft is a family resort, can't we
leave the lap-dancing to Yarmouth? Hopefully in Lowestoft we can hold our
heads a bit higher than that. I worked in Yarmouth for a long time, but it
is seedy and these sort of clubs appeal to those sort of people.

Reverend Mark Sharpe

Former naval chaplain Reverend Mark Sharpe tells why a
culture of hardcore pornography drove him from the service.

I’m not a prude, Sharpe said he had no problem visiting a topless
bar in Florida... BUT next morning I found hardcore porn on my
bed.

Samantha Strudwick

Strudwick said about a Bognor sex shop proposal that the
location was completely unsuitable for such a use: I'm no prude and I
know there's a place for sex shops in society... BUT... this shop
would be on the main route to two primary schools in the town centre.

Michelle White

Bognor councillor objecting to
private bathing club: Yes, whether people use
these services and the new services is a matter of personal lifestyle
choice. Yes, they are behind closed doors...BUT... the protection
of the more vulnerable members of society is something we need to
seriously consider, and urgently.

Barry Wood

Henley councillor who objected to lap dancing in the town

11th February: Hooray Henley

Wood formed a residents’ action group (RAG) to try to persuade South
Oxfordshire District Council to reverse its decision to grant the club an
adult entertainment licence.

He said: RAG is definitely not a morality group, nor are we Mary
Whitehouse clones...HOWEVER...we are deadly serious that Henley is
not the place for a strip club.

Amnesty International agreed to give their
backing to the Liz longhurst campaign, which has seen almost 35,000 people sign a petition
against violent internet porn sites.

Amnesty funded the production of 5000 brochures supporting a proposal to
imprison otherwise innocent people merely for looking at staged sexual
violence.

Association for Payment Clearing Services

Sandra Quinn, a spokeswoman said:
We are not setting
ourselves up as moral arbiters. BUT we have to be sure we are doing
all we can about preventing the spread of such extreme images.

Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Urged the Government to test the law on
internet pornography by prosecuting internet providers whose sites contained
illegal material. Why is it that teachers tend to want to punish innocent
parties for the perceived crimes of others? "Detention for the whole class
until the culprit owns up"

Ayr Council

Shameful Councillors; Alan Murray, Gordon McKenzie and Ian Fitsimmons
voted to reject the application for a sex shop licence on some bollox grounds of
unsuitable location.

On the otherhand Douglas Campbell and David Duncan voted to approve
the licence.

Barnado's

A woman was suspended from work in a charity shop on the
grounds that she had applied for a sex shop licence (unsuccessfully). The
shameful charity eventually decided to sack the woman. Hopefully Barnado's
are being taken to an industrial tribunal for unfair dismissal.

Boots the Chemist

A Boots spokeswoman said that it was company policy to tip off police if
staff thought that a film being developed contained pictures of activity that could be
illegal. (And they do frequently, never trust them with your name and address, they are a
bunch of no good snitches, ask Julia Summerville).

BBC Radio 2

Speaking of Linda McCartney's Light Comes From Within, a
spokesman said: We haven't banned the song, but we don't consider it
suitable

Brighton & Hove Council

Pitiful prudes from New Censorial Labour have been picking
on some terribly innocuous entertainment

The only striptease joint in town has been limited by the council to
topless shows.

The council banned a beach volleyball event on the grounds it had a
sponsor with a page 3 girls on their website

Speaking about their idea of extension of their remit to
Internet video:

Sue Clark, a spokeswoman for the BBFC said: We don't
want to go down the route of cutting and banning things and blocking
sites...BUT... a lot of the content that's out there on
the internet is not something the majority of people would want to view. [...Which they WILL of course cut and ban...]
She cited the example of Terrorists, Killers and Middle East Wackos,
a compilation of video clips of actual killings and terrorist attacks. The
compilation is banned on video or DVD in the UK because the BBFC believed it
to contravene the Obscene Publications Act, but it is freely available on
the internet through file-sharing sites.

British Video Association

Their publicity pamphlet openly boasts of regulation:
The UK video
industry is proud of the standards that it maintains. It is the most regulated video
industry in the free world and is subject to more legal and voluntary controls than
broadcast television, cable or satellite in this country. (But its attitudes like
this that make the word 'free' a lie)

Supposed monitor of standards of taste and decency who fundamentally
believe that sex entertainment is bad. They are supposed to monitor public tastes and yet
they ignore the popularity of sex entertainment proved via viewing figures in the
millions. The BSC is lucky to have a particularly offensive chairman in the form of
Lady Howe.

The inclusion, for its own sake, of erotic
material in a free-to-air television service is a step change in the use of sex on British
television." It risks an erosion of standards and could encourage the more
frequent use of such material, The BSC ruling states that erotic material should be
banished to "pay television" channels(What a noxious
attitude, sex is only allowed if you can afford pay TV),

Camden Council

Objected to posters from Virgin Cola, took them down and billed the
company and suggested that the poster contravened the Obscene Publications Act.

The
offending posters feature the sexy cartoon character Rollercola Girl with the message
Open
your mouth I'm coming tonight.

Cardiff Council

Cardiff council's licensing and public protection committee
rejected a licence for an erotica fair on the grounds that the arena was near schools,
several churches, hotels and a Toys R Us store. Perhaps next time the fair should try a
more suitable venue well established as a den of iniquity...ie the townhall.

The CCTV believes in the tradition of British tolerance, in non-extreme
but robust debate about traditional family values and is opposed to policies
of censorship.

BUT... on the subject of 9 Songs, the explicit film by Michael Winterbottom:

Most people in this nation, who respect the value of traditional Christian
standards, would have expected sale of this type of pornography to be
limited to licensed sex shops, or at the very least for the film to have
been drastically cut from its original version. Yet the BBFC has passed 9
Songs without a single cut, so that any 18 year old can see the film at
any cinema.

Christian Institute

Bunch of nutters in Newcastle who tried to stop an erotic fair via legal
action in the form of a judicial review. Thankfully they were defeated.

They have also
been planning to march against a proposed sex shop in Gateshead.

Christian Voice

Aggressive nutters who have allowed threats and
intimidation to be speak louder than tolerance and compassion. Hopefully
this is down to the organisation's leader, Stephen Green, rather than
Christianity as a whole

They published the addresses of BBC officers who
they believed were connected with the showing of Jerry Springer: The Opera
leading to threats of violence. Since then they have pressured charities
into not accepting much need money from donors they don't agree with and
have decided to target their aggression on pregnant women attending abortion
centres.

Curry's

Retail chain including Dixon's and PC World rather believed
moralistic hype about the computer game Bully and decided to ban it. Of
course they were left with egg on their faces when it turns out to mild game
with a 15 certificate.

Surely worth boycotting these holier than thou
shops who pander to nutters.

Derry Council

In 2005 they put their own prejudices ahead of the law and
decided that Derry may have no sex shops. They provide no justification of
this policy as is required by the European Convention of Human Rights.

Dublin Airport

In the business class airport lounge at Dublin airport the
computer denies access to the melonfarmers site. A 'cyber patrol' sign pops
up claiming that the site contains sex/violence.

eBay

For the arbitrary censoring of articles
for auction. They don't even accept the official BBFC certificate as a
bench mark of what is legal to trade. The define some ethereal bench mark
with no attempt to define what it is...shameful

Pursue the interest of the bully boy multi-media companies well outside
of the ideals suggested by their name. They have recently being pursuing disk importers
even where there is no doubt that the film makers and artists have got their rightful
share of the sales.

Have ridden roughshod over human rights laws and imposed a
total ban on table dancing without justification beyond that of agreeing
with Andrea Dworkin: The big, brave men who want lap-dancing could use
some lap-slicing in its place.

Google

Received from Google reporting on the Melon Farmers

Thank
you for your interest in Google AdSense. After reviewing your application,
our program specialists have found that the website currently associated
with your account does not comply with our policies. Therefore, we're unable
to accept you into Google AdSense at this time.

We did not approve your application for the reasons listed below:

Inappropriate language -

Adult content

Further detail:

Inappropriate language: We've found that your website contains content that
isn't in compliance with our program policies. We don't allow websites with
excessive profanity or potentially offensive content to participate in
Google AdSense. Please review our policies (www.google.com/adsense/policies)
for a complete list of site content not allowed on web pages.

Adult content: Currently, only AdWords ads that we classify as family-safe
are available through the AdSense program. We've found your site to be
predominantly adult or mature in nature. Therefore, we're unable to display
relevant ads on your site. Please review our policies (www.google.com/adsense/policies)
for a complete list

Currently wasting a ridiculous amount of tax payer's money trying to
shield the customers at a table dancing club, Secrets, from seeing the girls' genitalia.
This appears to be the direct result of a few well known influential residents such as
John Humphrys feeling that the club brings down the tone of the neighbourhood. Of course
this shameful council immediately sides with the whingers and give the club and their
patrons no say in the matter. And just what is wrong with a bit of nudity anyway? It is a
pretty mean minded low life that wants to unnecessarily deprive one's fellow humans of
sexual pleasure.

Internet Vigilantes

A bunch of nutters who seek to impose their views of morality on their
fellow man. They operate mainly by in haranging mail order sales of R18 videos.

Their half hearted response
to the Government consultation on the possession of extreme pornography will
surely be used by the Government to support their repressive proposal.

Loughton Library

Thanks to John

I thought that I
might mention that trying to visit your website from Loughton Library in
Essex, I got the message on their computer that your website has been banned
with the message "Sex site-not allowed to view" or some such wording. This
will probably show up on the Debden Library, Essex computers as well.

Maggies Centres

The cancer charity Maggie’s Centres aim to help to establish a nationwide
network of units for cancer patients and their families.

However they are very picky as to who they accept money from and
certainly wouldn't accept money from Melon Farmers. In particular they
refused to accept £3000 from a charity performance of Jerry Springer — The Opera
due to pressure from the nutters of Christian Voice

Movement for Christian Democracy

From their own site...I thought Christianity preached
against lies.

One of the major campaigning successes of the
Movement for Christian Democracy has been its work to bring about reform of the BBFC.
The
MCD does not believe in censorship as a way forward,... but as
an organosation committed to accountability, democracy and non-violence, has had a
particular interest in this area.

I would like
to nominate MTV for your hall of shame - as well as routinely bleeping out
every swear word & even words like "bullshit", "tits", "dick" etc etc etc
from music video lyrics, also bleep out all disparaging references to
commercial products, eg. In Eminem's "I'm Slim Shady" the reference to
Burger King is deleted,

National Viewers and Listeners Association

A shadow of their former selves ever since Mary Whitehouse has ceased to
be an active player. John Beyer is gamely trying to continue with the noxious soundbite
about film censorship or internet porn.

Now known as Mediawatch-UK

NCH Action for Children

Children's charity who are calling for more internet regulation and boast
of a zero tolerance approach towards anything that is not child friendly. They seem
to act as advisers to the Government on children's issues.

On the subject of the Home Office consultation on the
possession of extreme pornography:

All of the material under discussion is clearly of a type that children
and young people should be protected from anyway, whether it is on the
internet or elsewhere. Hitherto CHIS (including NCH) has campaigned for
better and stronger filtering technologies to keep material of this type
away from devices which children and young people use. By making this
material illegal it is therefore likely to give everyone involved in online
publishing a greater incentive to find it and remove it, or provide better
filtering products to screen it out, in the same way as they already do with
child sex abuse images. In that light we have no hesitation in expressing
our support for new legislation of the kind currently under consideration.

Newcastle Under Lyme Licensing Committee

Banned male and female strippers from any audience contact. In addition
they have put a time limit on nudity. Of course they deny that they are being killjoys,
but that's expected from killjoys.

Norwich City Council

A sex shop in Norwich,
wanted the slogan Gifts, goodies & gadgets for yourself, your friends &
your lovers emblazoned on the side of a Hackney cab.

Officials from Norwich City Council would only approve the design if the
word gadget was removed — fearing it could offend people.

Nottingham Council

The nutters of
the city council have a strict "no sex" policy. Last year the council banned
nudity in city venues and pledged to fight any expansion of the sex industry.
Their decisions have generally been overruled as they have been found dodgy
when legally scrutinised

They are a rather amateurish site producing downloadable documents made
with Microsoft Word (you've got to laugh) instead of using Adobe Acrobat
(.pdf), like any other self respecting organisation would do.

They couldn't even spell Jenna Jameson correctly (it was spelt Jemma
Jameson). Have you ever shopped at Argus (Argos) by the way? Haha. See the
last link above.

Prior to starting work on their broadcasting code they set out the following
ideals

Freedom of expression is an essential human right. It is the
right to hold opinions, to receive information and ideas and to
impart them.

All regulation in the proposed Code must be prescribed by law
and necessary in a democratic society. Unnecessary regulation should
not be in this Code. Rules cannot be made at the whim of a
regulator.

Regulation should be transparent, accountable, proportionate,
consistent and targeted only at cases where action is needed. That
is a requirement of the Act but it is also part of the test Ofcom
has to apply in restricting freedom of expression.

Then on a whim they have denied our freedom of expression with a totally
disproportionate and unnecessary ban of legal adult material...

Orange

Mobile phone company who denies freedom of speech to those
adults without a credit card. They refuse to accept the physical presence of
an obvious adult as proof of age. Adult content is refused for those who
have not got a credit card.

PC World

Never return a PC to computer to PC World, they seem to routinely
scan hard disks looking for dubious content and are more than happy to report their
findings to the police. This obnoxious attitude recently had fatal consequences when the
victim was driven to suicide.

Consumer
Association Of Penang

Nominated by Dan, Aug 2008: A group which calls for a ban on a video
game cannot be in favour of consumer rights.

A Malaysian dishonestly tagged consumer rights organisation called for
a ban on Grand Theft Auto when it was blamed by a murderous Thai robber
for his murder of a taxi driver.

The Porn Detectives

It seems that The Melon Farmers
have been labelled as misogynists by nutters on a site called
The Porn
Detectives.

But I wouldn't take too much
offence, as the term seems to apply widely to all who don't believe
in their rather extremist views. Surely the vast majority of the
civilised world.

The 'Dead Men Don't Rape'
stickering and the ensuing discussion suggest that saying they hate
men, is something of an understatement.

Private Shops

I am still smarting from being mislead into buying softcore
magazines, misleading dressed as hardcore, about 30 years ago. I have never
bought anything from a Private Shop since.

Things have surely improved
since about 2000 when shop sales of hardcore were legalised. However where
legislation gets in the way, Private Shops surely toe the required line but
at the same time don't admit this to their customers.

I called into the Private Shop in Bristol Saturday to see what sort of
prices the R18 films were. Whilst in there, there was a rather irate man
stating he had tried ordering DVD`s through mail order (as he didn`t want to
be seen going into a shop). All they did was send him a voucher to collect
them from the shop. They explained they aren`t allowed to send them by post
but said this could be changing soon. By the way, £40 for a DVD, what a rip
off.

Royal and Sun Alliance

The Royal and Sun Alliance insurance company sacked 10 of
its employees after they were caught distributing an email that showed cartoon character
Bart Simpson flashing at his naked sister Lisa. (Wow that really sounds
like a serious sackable offence)

Sainsbury's

Supermarket Sainsbury's bowed to pressure from a tiny
fringe Christian nutters group by withdrawing copies of a DVD of Jerry
Springer: The Opera from stores around the UK because of "customer"
concerns about the content of the musical. Sainsbury has admitted it
received just 10 complaints.

Organised a consultation about proposed legislation to
criminalise the possession of extreme pornography. They accepted responses
by email but their filter deemed some of the words used in bona fide
responses to be inappropriate. These responses were not found until after
the completion of the analysis.

On discovering the error the Scottish
Executive refused to rework the analysis and couldn't even be arsed to
apologise to those who's views were ignored.

This refusal to reconsider the analysis should lead to sacking for gross
incompetence in their responsibility to maintain democracy in Scotland.

Suffolk Coast Council

Adopted a policy which states that all
applications will be required to show the location of the establishment in
relation to facilities used by vulnerable adults – for example, health
centres, sheltered accomodation or mental health institutions.
(Outrageously patronising! I am sure that users of health
centres do not appreciate being treated as weak minded and vulnerable)

Tesco

The British supermarket has recentlyissued guidelines
governing taste and decency which have been sent to major distributors. An
executive said: But it has been made clear that the onus is on publishers
to ensure the content is appropriate, Circulation departments won't put up a
fight because we need the sales.

Tesco insisted of 15mins of additional cuts to a softcore 18 certificated
video as passed by the BBFC

Melon Farmers is blocked
at tinternet cafe with the statement: This site has been
blocked because it contains matters related to sex

I asked the person in attendance, to unblock it, as there was no explicit
pictures on it, and she refused. I then demanded my money back, and said I
would not pay for censored internet access. This was grudgingly given.

I suggested that the attendant looks at the MF site, to see that there was
no pornography there, but she refused to do so, saying "I don't want to look
at it thank you!"....

To go from "tinternet" to a more friendly and honest cyber cafe, walk
back towards the sea front and turn right, and it is about 100 yards on your
right.

Tower Hamlets Trading Standards

Recently took it upon themselves to go and play raiding parties at a pub
venue where table dancing was evolving into lap dancing. All sorts of stupid rules
governing strip joints now seem to be coming in on the back of this action.

Why is it
that any form of sex entertainment is assumed to be totally illegal in the UK?...because
it is regulated by arbitrarily worded laws and enforced by jumped-up civil servants
playing at being policemen.

Hardly on honest self description for an internet cafe as
they filter out both the Melon Farmers and the abridged, cleaned up version,
at Censor Watch

UK Protection of Children Online

Another bunch of nutters who hide behind 'child' banner but probably only
seek to impose their views of morality on their fellow man. They join the Internet
Vigilantes in haranging mail order sales of R18 videos.

Vidshop

Dutch based adult DVD shop that failed to live up to the
promises it makes about its affiliate scheme. The company never paid several
thousand pounds owing to the Melon Farmers.

But the Melon Farmers are not
the only ones to have had problems with this company. From Kevin:

I have also had problems with vidshop.

I paid my money (£69.00) by credit card to vidshop for dvds at least 8
months ago, and they said they would forward them to me when in stock.

I have continually gone on their web site to see they are in stock, and all
I get is the automated response, I have also written to them.

Any idea how to get my money back, or where I can complain to.

Wal-mart

Wal-Mart banned Sheryl Crow's second album because on it she sings about
gun control and mentions Wal-Mart by name: Watch out sister, watch out brother, watch
our children while they kill each other with a gun they bought at Wal-mart discount stores

Fuct by FACT. A Watford Movie Mart had been raided late in 1998 by the
obnoxious FACT looking for region 1 DVD sellers. Watford council have succumbed to police
pressure and have now banned all further events. Typically British bad attitude from
Watford Council, have a little bother so totally close down the event, we wouldn't want
people enjoying themselves now would we?

Westminster Council

Westminster council said when installing Orewellian
streetmicrophones said that they would not be used to snoop, BUT...
would allow its inspectors to take prompt action against anti-social
behaviour.

Woolworths bowed to pressure from a tiny fringe Christian
nutters group by withdrawing copies of a DVD of Jerry Springer: The Opera
from stores around the UK because of "customer" concerns about the content
of the musical.

Woolworths said it does not wish to act as censor
BUT... it was responding to "numerous complaints" by customers

World Online

The ISP World Online have recently removed *all* of their
binaries newsgroups on their Usenet feed. A spokesperson for World Online gave a classic
shameful explanation

The decision to remove binaries from the
news server was a decision based on the very large number of families using our service,
where parents do not want children (or even themselves) to see relentless porn images.

We are not just talking about child pornography, but the whole range
of material that is available. We do have an obligation to restrict 'top shelf' material
if parents, and our users, have asked us to do so.

The news groups are so full of porn it is hard to use them for what
they really were for. If users want to see porn then they can do so simply by visiting the
huge number of web sites available. And those that give their credit cards over, simply
help to further the trade, but have not put any censorship on sites. But at least you know
what you are doing when you go to these sites.

I hate censorship of any kind, but sometimes you need to
help protect those that need it (ie:children) until they can truly decide for themselves.